The pros :According to the NHTSA, the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, in 2010 the drunk driving fatalities accounted for 32% of all traffic deaths. That means on average someone is killed in an alcohol-impaired driving crash about every 50 minutes in the U.S.

United States law recognizes the legal drinking age as being 21 years of age. It is awfully contradictory in my eyes and probably those of others. Look at it from this point of view, at 18 years old; the law recognizes you as an adult. You are allowed to vote, participates in rallies and demonstration. You are allowed to risk your life to serve your country by joining the military. If proper documents are signed, you can join the military as young as 16 years of age. You are allowed to smoke cigarettes and even get married, but you cannot have any alcohol until you are 21. What if the soldiers who serve in the military do not make it to 21, heaven forbid? Our judicial system is such a wreck.

Just think about how much money our taxpayers will save. Instead of sentencing teenagers to jail time or worse, and spending money filing papers, we could lower the drinking age and save a lot of resources best suited in other areas. Lowering the drinking age would surely make drinking less tempting for teenagers. We know what teenagers are like. Teenagers sometimes rebel. By lowering the age, the temptation to rebel would decrease.

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...﻿PROLoweringDrinkingAge
1. 18 is the age of adulthood in the United States, and adults should have the right to make their own decisions about alcohol consumption. Turning 18 entails receiving the rights and responsibilities of adulthood to vote, smoke cigarettes, serve on juries, get married, sign contracts, be prosecuted as adults, and join the military - which includes risking one's life. [5] [6]
2. Allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to drink alcohol in regulated environments with supervision would decrease unsafe drinking activity. Prohibiting this age group from drinking in bars, restaurants, and other licensed locations causes them to drink in unsupervised places such as fraternity houses or house parties where they may be more prone to binge drinking and other unsafe behavior. [7]
3. Traffic accidents and fatalities are most common among newly-legal drinkers, regardless of the MLDA. [8] In 2009, the 21- to 24-year-old age group had the highest percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels of .08 or higher – 35 percent. [9] Any increase in traffic accidents or fatalities in 18- to 20-year-olds would be offset by a decrease for those 21 and older. [10]
4. There are fewer drunk driving traffic accidents and fatalities in many countries with MLDA of 18. Although the United States increased...

...Blake Beier
Composition II
Exploratory Essay
The legal drinkingage has been a continuously debated subject in the United States since its establishment. The national legal drinkingage of twenty-one years old was placed in 1984 and still holds to the present, but many have begun questioning whether twenty-one is still an appropriate age for our current society. Much of this debate starts with college campuses and binge drinking. As a senior in high school, and soon-to-be freshman in college, I began wondering if the drinkingage is still suitable for present times, and if it should be altered. According to University of Michigan, approximately 80% of high school students have tried alcohol before graduating, and 60% have gotten drunk. With these statistics, it seems evident that the legal drinkingage is not efficiently doing its job, and should be reviewed. So the question arises: Should the legal drinkingage be changed?
I started my research with “Repeal the DrinkingAge,” by Jeffrey Tucker, Publisher and Executive Editor of Laissez Faire Books, from his own Mises Daily blog. In his article, Tucker begins his blog by discussing how most countries’ legal drinkingages are eighteen, but in the “land of the free,” the limit is set at twenty-one,...

...Taylor Deese
Hall-Godsey
7/8/13
Research Paper
Lowering the DrinkingAge
Deliberate for a minute on how many young adults under the age of twenty-one drink alcoholic beverages illegally. Studies show that more than seventy percent of young adults between the ages of eighteen to twenty have engaged in illegal drinking. The United States drinkingage has gone up and down throughout the years, but since 1984, the minimum age to drink has increased to twenty-one. Some believe that this age is appropriate, while others believe the federal government should decrease the age one is allowed to put alcohol to their lips. The drinkingage should be lowered to eighteen like in many other countries because at this age one is considered an adult and in the United States the enticement to drink alcohol will reduce.
Numerous actions took place before the drinkingage increased. Some of these occurred when the United States gradually attempted to ban alcohol in every state no matter what your age was. Eventually they did achieve this goal, the outcome of this accomplishment created what America believed would transform this country. This change was known as the National Prohibition Act. The act began in 1919 and continued until 1933. When the...

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Lowering the DrinkingAge to 18
Multiple Perspectives
May 10
That moment when you feel like you’re old enough to do something but that law forbid you from doing that. When you turn 18 you’re legally able to buy tobacco, get a tattoo, go to a strip club, take loans out, adopt a child, sign legal documents, and join the armed forces. Yet you can do all except drink under the age of 21. There are many other countries in the world that you are allowed to consume alcohol under the age of 21, for instance in France people under the age of 21 are allowed to drink wine under parental consent as a minor in the confines of their own homes. By lowering the drinkingage to 18, why is the drinkingage even 21, and the 18 year old kids will be able to drink in safer and more moderately environments.
Everyone knows that it is illegal to consume alcohol until the age of 21. Many people are in agreement with this legal limitation. Some would even say that it should be raised. However, the legal drinkingage sometimes causes more problems than it prevents. First, it is essential to question this law. Why is 21 the automatic age that makes one intelligent and mature enough to consume alcohol? In an alcohol summit held in Indiana...

...Limited research paper
College writing
4/15/11
Lowering the legal drinkingage
Take a moment and imagine your 18th birthday. You’re considered an adult now; you can get married, join the army, own a house, and vote. If we are considered adults at the age of 18 and can die for our country and make all of our own decisions then why cant people drink at the age of 18? Given modern day society, the idea oflowering the national minimum drinkingage to 18 in the united states is feasible because of its proven effectiveness in other foreign countries and desirable because of the benefits such as reduced crime, reduced spending and more educated adults to society.
The effectiveness of this plan can be proven through 3 different aspects: the positive effect that having a lower drinkingage has/had in European countries such as Germany, Definitive research, and the profound changes it would bring upon society.
The minimum drinkingage overall in Europe is significantly lower then that of the United States, Germany is one of those examples. In Germany it is legal for people to buy and drink beer at age 16 and then hard liquor at 18. I have seen this plan in action with my own eyes many times. Being someone who used to live in Germany I have the unique perspective of life as a teen in Germany as...

...“What we’re doing now to prevent underage drinking isn’t working; it’s time to try something else.” Although many people argue that the National Minimum DrinkingAge Act of 1964, which lowed the drinkingage from eighteen to twenty one, was a good idea. David J Hanson a professor in the State University of New York believed that something needs to be done to make the United States a safer place to live. Is it fair that people in the United States can serve in the military, vote in elections, serve in juries, get married, and enter into legal contracts at the age of eighteen, but not buy alcohol until they are twenty one years of age. Lowering the drinkingage in the United States to eighteen will help young adults be more responsible, and in addition it would make colleges a safer environment and it would lower the amount of binge drinking.
Lowering the drinkingage to eighteen will help teenagers act more responsible. In the United States, the government considers a teenager to be an adult at the age of eighteen, as they obtain specific duties and responsibilities without parental approval. The government believes that “those turning 18 can join the military, receive medical care, get married, and receive a number of other adult privileges and other...

...Sociology
Lowering The DrinkingAge
The legal drinkingage in the United States is set at twenty-one years of age. I believe that considering twenty-one as the legal age of maturity is absurd. Who is it to say that just because an individual is twenty-one means that they are mature enough to consume alcohol in a responsible manner? Changing the legal drinkingage to eighteen should be imposed. Eighteen year-old individuals can take on many adult responsibilities, but they do not have the right to consume alcohol. Many people feel this is unfair while others disagree and think it’s best. There is a huge controversy over whether to keep the legal drinkingage at twenty-one, or to lower it to the legal age of adulthood, eighteen.
Congress passed the National Minimum Purchase Age Act in 1984. This law was passed to push each state to alter their legal drinkingage to twenty-one years of age. The congress thought that if they increased the minimum drinkingage that it would save a substantial number of lives each year. They assumed that a twenty-one year old individual was more mature than the usual eighteen year-old. That, in my honest opinion, was a big mistake. Just because an individual lives to be twenty-one does not...

...﻿Lowering The Age Will Lower The Deaths
“’Drinking is Fun’ and ‘There’s Nothing You Can Do About It’: The Problem With the 21-Year-Old Minimum DrinkingAge” an essay by Dr. Reginald Fennell, found in the Journal of American College Health, focuses on the effects of the minimum drinkingage on college students. Fennell explains the benefits of lowering the drinking and gives alternatives to the current law. This article is of interest to readers since society seems to have a strong opinion of whether the drinkingage should remain the same or be lowered. When a teenager turns eighteen, they have all the legal rights of an adult with the exception of consuming and purchasing alcohol. The author feels strong about his opinion. Fennell is not only an editor for the Journal of American College Heath, but he is also a professor at Miami University in Ohio where he teaches health classes. By speaking to his college students, and also having been a student himself, Fennell knows first-hand the experiences and actions of students on college campuses.
The United States seems to believe having a high minimum drinkingage will keep the alcohol related deaths to a minimum; however, Holt presents predictions and statistics to put into question what really is the best solution to the overwhelming...